<$MTBlogName encode_html="1"$>

This week I've been home for the first time in weeks, and simply put, it's great to be here. All week long I've been watching my two children as my wife has taken some much-deserved "break from the kids time," and it has brought up some thoughts I'd like to share with you:

1. I trade first and foremost to make money;
2. But I make the money so that I can do things that I care about, first of which is spend time with my family.

Over the last four months, I have traveled all around the U.S. (Florida, California, New York, Washington, DC, and more), to England, Scotland, Canada, Australia, and Japan. During these trips I spent a great deal of time with traders who nearly universally said that trading, for them wasn't just about the money. It was about what the money could bring them (time with their loved ones).

When you think of why you are really doing this, why you are busting your behind to become successful as a trader, what's the real answer? After you say, "money," what's the other, deeper answer?

NOTE: There is nothing better in the world than taking a walk with my children in the warm summer weather, hearing my 2-year old ask, "What's that?" every 60 seconds.